


Cosmic Justice

by Mercutio



Category: Smallville
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2002-03-29
Updated: 2002-03-29
Packaged: 2017-11-01 06:30:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/353139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mercutio/pseuds/Mercutio
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lex visits Clark's mother in the hospital.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cosmic Justice

The elderly woman lying in the hospital bed looked near death, and at that, she looked better than when Superman had brought her in twenty four hours before. 

Tubes ran out of her arms, over the machines connected to both the bed and the woman, and the majority of her bruises were only now beginning to turn purple. She had been moved to a private room two hours earlier, and a personal physician and nurse were even now waiting outside the room. 

The impeccably dressed figure at her bedside looked up as soon as she woke. "Mrs. Kent." 

She examined him with her good eye, the other swollen shut. "Hello, Lex. Or should I say, Mr. President?" 

"Lex will do, Mrs. Kent." 

"So, what are you doing here, Lex? It's been a few years since I last saw you, and this isn't exactly the right place to make a social call." 

"Yes. I know. I just wanted to tell you... the man who assaulted you..." 

She closed her eye, then opened again. "Yes?" 

The kidnapping of a smalltown Kansas widow had not excited much media attention until Superman had become involved. Only a very few people knew why such a person might be important, after all. The brutality of the attack had, however, made national news once a celebrity of Superman's stature had rescued the victim. 

"I regret that I didn't find out about the attack until it was too late." 

She didn't say anything. 

He crushed the leather gloves in his hands. "I just thought you should know -- he's dead now. He was killed in prison this morning." 

"Ah." Her gaze was knowing. 

He met it steadily. "I didn't think Clark would tell you; he'd probably think he was protecting you." 

"For all that he was raised on the farm, Clark was never very good when it came time to slaughter the livestock," she said. "Thank you, Lex." 

He stood, and went to stand next to her, brushing her unmarked cheek very lightly with his fingertips. "If there's anything I can do, Mrs. Kent, anything at all, please let me know." 

"I will." 

He turned to leave, slipping on his gloves. As he got to the door, she said quietly, "I'm sorry, Lex. That he never loved you the way you do him." 

"Not as sorry as I am," he said, and left the room. 

-the end- 


End file.
